“Our technology, our machines, is part of our humanity. We created them to extend ourselves, and that is what is unique about human beings.” ~ Ray Kurzweil

APPLE’S HOMEPOD SHIPPING STARTS ON FEBRUARY 9TH

THE STORY

Apple is all set to ship its smart speaker HomePod on February 9th.

WHAT IS HOMEPOD AND WHEN WILL IT BE AVAILABLE?

Apple is all ready with its own version of smart speakers called HomePod. The shipping will start on February 9th. So the users in the US, UK, and Australia can preorder the device starting this Friday 26th Jan. The expected price is $349/£319. The smart speaker is available in White and Grey color.

HOW IS APPLE’S HOMEPOD DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SMART SPEAKERS IN THE MARKET?

HomePod is the newest contender of Amazon and Google and like them, it also has voice assistant. It can listen and respond to your commands via Siri. With it, you can control music playback and your smart home.

The company has planned to tout the compact integration between its hardware and Apple Music, connecting it to the library of more than 45 million songs. The device is compatible to link up devices together to create Sonos-esque multi-room audio all over your home in future.

Apple seems to be pretty confident about the quality of the audio that HomePod produces. It consists of a seven-tweeter array in the base of the device and six microphones burrowed in the body to deliver better sound. HomePod has been in development since 2012 however it was not in focus. The company was studying all the competitors and checking out their shortcomings and then worked on building something great.

Initially, Apple wanted to launch it 2017 holidays but ditched the idea as things didn’t set right.Giving Google and Amazon time to win over hearts of the consumers for a little longer. The company thinks that the consumers should be okay to pay a higher price for the superior sound quality.

ADD GIFS TO STORIES ON INSTAGRAM

THE STORY

Now Instagram allows you to add GIFs to your Stories to make more cheerful.

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH GIFS SUPPORT?

Source: blogs.instagram.com

It has been months, we have been listening that Instagram is going to add GIFs to the stories feature. Finally, the day has come. Starting today, you will be able to add dancing cats, flying hamburgers over photos and videos. You can get several options for moving stickers and objects due top GIPHY integration. Soon, Instagram is rolling out another feature with which you can upload videos and photos of any size. Moreover, you don’t have to crop them in portrait format.

To use GIF stickers, you need to tap the add sticker button located at the top of Stories. From that, select the new GIF option, now you will get a library of GIFs will appear. Select and drag the one, you want onto your photo or video. You can search for trending GIFs on GIPHY or entire its library.

Soon, you will be adding photos or videos of any size ratio to Stories. Once enabled, you will be able to tweak the uploaded video or photo to share it in its original ratio, which will save you from explaining it your friends what they have missed in the video. Instagram says the extra room surrounding the image will be filled with a custom color gradient that matches it.

The GIF sticker is available on version 29 on both Android and iOS from today. The Stories feature that enables you to resize photos and videos will release in the coming weeks as Instagram has quoted.

Author: Srishti SisodiaSrishti Sisodia is a technical content journalist at Systweak Software. Apart from being a capable engineer, her affinity for inscription draws her towards writing interesting content about contemporary technologies and progressions. She is an avid reader and a fare connoisseur. She relishes different cuisines and when it comes to baking, she takes the cake!

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